Amsterdam: Days 1-3

Day 1:

We spent our first day in Amsterdam doing what we do on our first day in almost every country: walking around. We loved all of the Dutch architecture. Even the train station is cute. This is an especially cute little street:

Unfortunately, in Amsterdam, wandering isn’t always a good thing. We saw what we thought would be a nice street to walk down…and it ended up being a part of the infamous Red Light District. Oops. It was pretty awkward, I’m not gonna lie:

Luckily, we made our way out of that part of the city pretty fast and got back to the cuteness.

Day 2:

Our second day in Amsterdam, we decided to do a group bike tour around the city. Everyone here seems to be on a bike, so we figured it would be a good way to see things, and it was. Plus, the bikes were cute and yellow, so it was awesome:

After the tour and some lunch, we went to the Anne Frank House. This was the place that she and her family were in hiding for 3 years before they were betrayed and sent to various concentration camps. Anne’s father, Otto, was sent to Auschwitz, and was the only one to survive. This is the door (behind a movable bookcase) that led from the factory below to the “secret annex” where they lived:

Then, for dinner that night, we ate delicious pancakes:

Day 3:

Our final day in Amsterdam was a big museum day. First, we went to the Rijksmuseum, where we some Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Steen, as well as a ton of other awesome Dutch paintings:

They also had these cool dollhouses. In the old days, it was a sign of wealth to have a dollhouse that was basically a model of your own house. Sometimes the dollhouses ended up costing as much as a house themselves:

After the first museum, we grabbed some lunch and hung out in Vondelpark for a while. The weather in Amsterdam was great, so it was very relaxing.

Next, we went to the Van Gogh Museum, which has over 200 of Van Gogh’s paintings on display. They also display them in chronological order, so it gives you a good look at his artistic development over time:

After the museum and some dinner, we caught a train to The Hague.